By know you have noticed that we have finally begun are pieces on all-time 50 players for each major franchise.  Eventually we will take that to the next level where we will examine how they take care of their former players in terms of retired numbers and franchise Hall of Fames, and as such it is major news to us that the Seattle Mariners will be retiring the number of Ken Griffey Jr., who was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in what was the largest percentage ever.

The Seattle Mariners will be retiring the number 24 that Griffey Jr. wore.  This is no small honor as with the exception of the league wide mandatory retirement of Jackie Robinson’s #42 this is the first number retired by the organization.

Ken Griffey Jr. played for Seattle from 1989 to 1999 and finished his career there in 2009 to 2010.  In the 13 seasons he was a Mariner, he accumulated 417 Home Runs, 1,216 RBI, 167 Stolen Bases with a Slash Line of .284/.370/.538 and a bWAR of 63.5.  This included four Home Run Titles, ten All Star Games, seven Silver Sluggers, ten Gold Gloves and one Most Valuable Player Award. 

Griffey Jr. will also become the first to enter Cooprstown wearing a Seattle Mariners hat.

We would like to congratulate Ken Griffey Jr. for his latest and deserved accolade. 

Another day, another major Hall of Fame announcement.

Days before the National Championship Game between Clemson and Alabama, the College Football Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2016 an while we do not rank those who are not in the College Hall, we here at Notinhalloffame.com always are interested to see who gets in!

Here they are!

Marlin Briscoe, Nebraska, Quarterback

Derrick Brooks, Florida State, Linebacker 

Tom Cousineau, Ohio State, Linebacker

Randall Cunningham, UNLV, Quarterback/Punter

Troy Davis, Iowa State, Running Back

William Fuller, North Carolina, Defensive Tackler

Bert Jones, LSU, Quarterback

Tim Krumrie, Wisconsin, Defensive Tackle

Pat McInally, Tight End, Harvard

Herb Orvis, Defensive End, Colorado

Bill Royce, Linebacker, Ashland

Mike Utley, Offensive Guard, Washington State

Scott Woerner, Defensive Back, Georgia

Rod Woodson, Defensive Back, Purdue

Bill Bowes, Coach, New Hampshire

Frank Girardi, Coach, Lycoming



We here would like to congratulate this stellar group to the College Football Hall of Fame!

“Tis the season to talk about Hall of Fames isn’t it?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has announced their Finalists, and there is no major surprise, which is usually the norm.

The headliner for most people (and for us) is former Quarterback, Brett Favre who two months ago had his number retired by the Green Bay Packers.  Favre is entering his first year of eligibility and is ranked #1 by us.

Favre is not the only first year eligible player to make the list of Finalists as Wide Receiver, Terrell Owens and Offensive Guard, Alan Faneca have also made the cut.  They are ranked and #7 and #5 respectively on our Notinhalloffame football list.

The remaining Finalists (with their Notinhalloffame rank in parenthesis) are Steve Atwater (#19), Don Coryell, Terrell Davis (#21), Tony Dungy, Kevin Greene (#37), Marvin Harrison (#3), Joe Jacoby (#62), Edgerrin James (#17), John Lynch (#57), Orlando Pace (#15) and Kurt Warner (#28).

This group joins the automatic Senior Finalists, Ken Stabler (#6) and Dick Stanfel (#30), along with Contributing Finalist, Eddie DeBartolo Jr.

To enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame must receive 80 percent of the votes.  A maximum of eight inductees can be chosen per year.

Like the Baseball Hall of Fame, We will be debating each Pro Football Finalist.



   

This is one of our favorite days of the year.

Today the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2016 and two former baseball greats will be immortalized in Cooperstown.

As expected, Ken Griffey Jr. breezed through on his first attempt.  Griffey Jr. set a new record for voting percentage, receiving 99.3% of the vote.

Griffey’s Hall of Fame co-entrant will be former Catcher, Mike Piazza who enters on his fourth try with 83.0%.

While Griffey and Piazza are excited today, there are certainly a lot of disappointed former baseball stars that were hoping for a certain Hall of Fame call.

Longtime Houston Astro, Jeff Bagwell, continues to be snubbed.  Like Piazza, Bagwell is on his fourth year of eligibility however like many on this ballot, he received his highest vote total, with 71.6%.